Clementina’s Ceramics

Clementina van der Walt

Clementina van der Walt is a well-known South African studio potter, based in Cape Town, who has in the past three decades lectured, run a production studio and held many one-person shows. Her work is represented in several South African national collections. She has participated in major shows abroad including four consecutive years at Ceramic Art London.

“My intention is to ‘seek the sacred in the ordinary’.

In the 21st century, we are aggressively being catapulted into this cyber age of information overload. So making contemplative and utilitarian objects by hand, may appear anachronistic and at odds with the spirit of the times. However, the ceramic discipline, with cultural and historical links to rituals of everyday life, encompasses society, religion and philosophy. Like music and poetry, it expresses a world of complexity and awe, with the capacity to touch the soul. The archetypal significance of the home, as a point where our spiritual and earthy lives interconnect is where I have attempted to explore these ideas.

My aesthetic inspiration is drawn from the patterns, colours and textures in the urban African and rural landscapes.

Applying techniques of press moulding, casting and throwing I use earthenware clays, slips and underglazes.”